Michael Werner

Cuban offered advice on where to get the perfect coffee in the morning, and Werner did have coffee with the U.K. accelerator director, who offered advice for Werner’s Tech Artista coworking center he’s opening in St. Louis.

From the start, Alex Cruz meticulously planned out where he’d be and who he wanted to meet. His company, PenPath, is a tool that helps writers track how influential they are.

So, first, he sought to meet people in the analytics business, going to speeches and dashing to the front with his laptop in hand.

“And secondly, investors who might invest in me and help my company grow, which I also did,” he says. “And lastly, writers themselves. I got to show them the product and they are absolutely going crazy for it, which makes me very excited and confirms our assumptions that this is a product that’s needed.

Alex Cruz

He says the trip to South by Southwest put him about six months ahead of schedule, with a bunch of important contacts.

Dennis King, president of St. Louis-based Working Security, Inc., benefited from a slew of seminars on privacy policies and procedures, as well as Q&As with Edward Snowden and Julian Assange.

“It’s important to all of us,” he says. “As individuals, we’re consumers of privacy, yet privacy is not something we can actually produce ourselves. It’s provided for us by organizations, nonprofits, business organizations, government. So we’re now in this incredibly relevant discussion about where our personal data goes.”

A native St. Louisan, Michael Calhoun grew up listening to the Voice of St. Louis.
During his high school years, Michael produced several nationally award-winning video documentaries, including one on the extensive influence and history of KMOX...